Chapter 3
Moonreaper666- Oh great, you again. I'm…ecstatic. You know you remind me a lot of a guy that I had to deal with in high school that thought everything that he wrote or thinks is the absolute right and only way for things to happen. What should happen and that anything that deviates is a sin of god or something. He didn't get along with anyone. I'm not saying your that person or exactly like him in every detail, your likely a decent person in real life, but just getting that out. Also, why the bloody heck are you continuing to read stories of my own making if you hate how I do things? If I recall, you absolutely despised how I did things in the AI partner story, even accusing me of having Alzheimer and threatening to hack my account because you hated how things were going and that I wasn't following your advice.
Dragon lord Syed 101- I wouldn't call it James Bond action, but I suppose you could see it like that.
Kai
Kai has been sleeping for a good long while since Erika escorted him and his crew to their room in the Federation base. After unpacking everything and getting everyone adjusted to their new arrangements as well as adjusting the room to accommodate their needs to both research and write their articles regarding Side 3, Kai dressed in his nightwear and slept for the rest of the day, feeling that he needed it for the next day.
He would have slept more, but Crick woke him up, telling him that breakfast would soon be ready and that they needed to start working on getting material for their article. Yawning, Kai woke up, stretching his limbs to both ease the stiffness within them as well as waking him up further. Getting out of his bed, Kai looked around his room.
It was clearly a room reserved for VIB personal, such as high-ranking politicians or officers in the military, easily as big as two five star hotel rooms combined. Divided into a few sections for specific purposes, the room had a bathroom section, a section for recreations, a kitchen section with a minifridge, a section for sleeping with enough room for him and his crew to sleep in, and two sections for a myriad of purposes. The latter two used by them to hold their research and for them to work on their article. Yeah, it was a big room. Federation certainly pays a lot when it comes to accommodating the rich and important figures in the government.
Going over to the bathroom section, Kai undressed himself and grabbed his toothbrush from the cabinet near a sink along with a tube of toothpaste. Going to the shower unit, Kai turned on the water as he poured some toothpaste on his toothbrush and began showering as well as brushing his teeth. Having to conserve time as much as possible so he can both spend more time on researching his sources as well as finding material that he can use for him articles, Kai had learned to brush his teeth efficiently while also showering at the same time.
After five minutes of showering, Kai stopped the slow of water and cleaned himself before dressing up in a nice set of dress attire that had been left there, likely by Crick, this morning. Upon dressing up, Kai exited the bathroom and saw Crick putting the final touches of his breakfast. It wasn't anything special really. Scrambled eggs with bacon along with coffee and orange juice.
Sitting down next to the food, Kai chowed down as Crick began to speak.
"Got a call from the commodore." Said Crick. "We're to meet up with our security team in the lobby of this building. From there, we'll take an APC to our first destination. A yellow zone in the capital, destinated point A-7."
"I see." Said Kai as he ate his food. He swallowed before speaking. "What exactly are we suppose to do there? Speak to people there and record how they're doing?"
"Yes sir." Said Crick. "Commodore Lombard has given us a list of people that we should interview. He picked the first one to go to, though, but after that, we can pick whomever you want to do next." Kai nodded at that before finishing his breakfast. Finishing the last of his coffee, Kai sat up and spoke to his crew.
"Alright, boys. Let's get going. Don't want to make our security team think we're slow pokes or tardy, right?" Asked Kai as he got ready. A few minutes later, the team was walking down towards the lobby, where their security team was waiting for them. As they walked, Kai wondered how Hepner was doing. It's been three years since they met and Kai wondered if she changed a great deal since then. With all that has happened to Side 3, it was probably the case, with all the reparations and harsh punishments the Federation gave out to Side 3 after the war. If she was still the same cheerful girl he met before, then it was likely a defense mechanism to hide how she truly felt. He wouldn't put it against her for doing that. Eventually, the group made it to the lobby, there they found their security team, waiting patiently for them.
As expect, it was mostly robotic soldiers in GM trooper platforms with one exception. With them was two women in Side 3 militia uniforms. One was Erika, crossing her arms over her chest, while the other was another red head, but lighter in coloration and blue eyes. Upon seeing the latter, Kai smiled. That was indeed Charlotte Hepner and she grew up rather nicely, something that caused Slick's visor to glow brighter upon seeing her, particularly her curves and breasts. Then there was the experimental mobile platform that commodore Lombard told him about.
It looked like it was based on the Guncannon line, and yet it also didn't. The only similarities that Kai could see was the heavy armor it had and backpack mounted cannons that went over it's shoulders. Other than those, that was it. It had a single gun on it's right shoulder with the other shoulder having a shoulder guard with the symbol of Londo Bell on it, much to Kai's surprise, and a single strip of metal over it's visor. In addition, it's feet were thin and long, shaped like a thin bar of metal that narrowed as it went on. Overall, it looked armed to the teeth and Kai wondered why the Federation thought it was a good idea to create a mobile platform like this. Hoping it wasn't a sign of more militarization by the Federation and it was armed with nonlethal weaponry, Kai walked over to the security team with a smile.
"Hey! Is everyone ready for a long day of seeing people in miserable conditions and trying to make people see that in the other sides and Earth?" Asked Kai, catching everyone's attention. The new mobile platform, upon seeing Kai, had it's blue visor glow bright at seeing him before marching up towards him. At first, Kai had a slight fear of pain coming at him before that washed away at the shock of what happened next.
"Kai!" Yelled the AI inhabiting the mobile platform before it grabbed him into a hug, laughing all the while. "It's so great to see you again! It's been three years, man! How you doing?! How's the reporters life been going!?" Stunned at this warm reception, Kai coughed a bit before speaking up.
"Uh, nice to see you too?" Said Kai, looking down at the mobile platform as it flung him around in excitement, causing people to look at the spectacle that was happening right now. Really glad there were not other news reporters here, Kai asked who the AI was. For, if he recalled correctly, he never had that much interactions with AIs in the military that would have caused this. All except one, but he was…
"Ah, man, that hurts, Kai!" Yelled the AI as it let go of Kai. "It's me Merc! Remember! Your AI in the war!" Upon hearing that, Kai widened his eyes in shock, looking at the mobile platform as he processed this. Merc, his AI, was here? He couldn't believe it.
"Merc?" Said Kai before laughing out loud. "No way. I never thought you would come and help me on this mission. Thought you would be out fighting pirates or something. Not guarding a single reporter and his crew."
"I will if that reporter was my partner in the war!" Yelled Merc, clearly excited in serving with Kai again, even if it isn't in a war. "Great to see you again, buddy, ready to go and do our job!?" Kai just nodded before looking over his reporter crew.
"Guys, this is Merc." Said Kai as he introduced his old AI with his new ones. "He may be quite a loudmouth, but he's a good AI with a good heart." Crick, Tick, and Slick, upon seeing the AI that their friend had talked about, went up and talked with him.
"Greetings." Started out Crick, extending out a servo to greet the military AI. "Kai has informed us all about you during our travels together. It's an honor to finally meet you face to face." Merc grabbed the offered hand and shook it hard.
"Well, it's an honor to see the AIs that helped out my human partner!" Yelled out Merc. "Heard it's because of you guys that Kai is as great of a reporter as he is right now. So, thanks for that." He then turned to Tick and Slick, one constantly shaking around slightly and the other one was looking at Hepner and Erika. "Thanks for being such a great team for him. But now that I'm here, we're going be the best team of reporters out there! No ones going to stop us!" Tick was shocked at the loud voice of Merc. He heard from Kai how loud he was, but he never thought it was this much. Slick found it annoying as it prevented him from appreciating the figures of the females as much as he wanted. Crick also found it annoying, but stayed silent about it. Before Merc could speak anymore, Erika came up to them.
"Gentleman, as much as this sounds rude, we really have to move now." Said Erika, annoyance all over her face at the yelling of Merc and the long reunion between Kai and Merc. "Come on, let's go." With that Erika left them, going over to the other members of the security team, Hepner smiling a bit at seeing Kai having a nice reunion with Merc.
"Bitch." Said Merc out loud. The remark caused Erika to twitch a bit, but she otherwise remained silent. "But, I guess she's right. Let's continue this as we walk to our transports Kai." Kai nodded at that before leaving the building, his security team surrounding him and his crew. As they walked to their transports, Kai went over to Merc and spoke.
"Nice body you got, man." Said Kai, looking over at the mobile platform Merc was inhabiting. "Is it armed with real weaponry?"
"This thing?" Said Merc as he looked at his body. "Not really. Things armed with various, nonlethal, riot equipment, like rubber bullets, tasers, and water cannons. As Side 3 is a province of the Federation now, isn't right to just shoot Federation citizens, even if they fought against the rest of us some years ago. Besides, Bright and Kowen wouldn't have let me in this suit if this specific platform was armed with lethal weapons." Kai raised an eyebrow at that.
"Bright is the reason you're here?" Asked Kai. Merc nodded at that.
"Yup." Said Merc with a nod. "Along with Kowen and Revil. Thought it would be good to have someone you completely trust in your security team." Kai nodded at that before asking something else.
"So, is there any other Londo Bell personal that I should know about?" Asked Kai as he looked around.
"Negative. Only ECOAS personal from what I can tell." Explained Merc before looking around himself before leaning in on Kai and speaking softly to him. "Can't tell you much, but Londo Bell is having a sort of throw down with the Titans. They're being pulled back from assignments to let the Titans do them." That caused Kai to look at him in shock.
"What?" Whispered Kai. "What do you mean?"
"I mean the Federation high council is pulling back Londo Bell troops in order to allow the Titans deal with the Zeon remnant." Said Merc. "They think that the Titans are a more effective organization than Londo Bell. They blame us for allowing the Delaz fleet for being the threat it became in Stardust, even if they failed to inflict much damage to the Federation. They think our soft ways are holding us back and because of that, they want something that's…a bit more merciless. Like really merciless, man. I'm talking Operation British merciless. And the Titans gave them that." Kai looked at Merc at that in slight worry. It was because of Londo Bell's merciful and strict regulations to the rules of engagement that it was the shining example to the spacenoids that the Earth Federation has changed and is the government that will lead humanity to an age of prosperity, leading to less protests of Federation corruption. The Titans will ruin that image, especially if their as bad as Kai thinks they'll be under the command of that Jamitov, an Earthnoid supremacist.
"Are they coming here?" Asked Kai as they finally made it to the APCs that will take them to their destination. There were two types. One was a standard APC made for human occupants. The other was a different model made for mobile platforms only. The former was slim and based on an armadillo shell while the latter was box shaped and with multiple entranceways on the sides. The military machines will be using that one while the humans and Kai's crew will take the other one. Despite being made for humans, the armadillo shell shaped APC can still take mobile platforms in it's hold, albeit with some difficulty and at the cost of troop carrying capacity. "To Side 3. I doubt that will be a good idea."
"Hopefully not." Said Merc. "Otherwise, it'll make your job impossible to do." Kai nodded at that in agreement before getting on his APC while Merc got on his, using on the entranceways and closing the door once he was onboard. Upon getting in his own, Kai sat down to Hepner, smiling down at the woman as she smiled back. Erika sat next to Tick and Crick, much to Slick's annoyance, a stoic expression on her face. Once everyone was seated, the APCs started up and soon left the Federation base as they traveled to Zum city, the capital of Side 3.
Later
Kai
APC
Kai had been going over the list of people he'll have to interview for today, wondering how to pick first, when he heard Hepner cough. Looking over at her, he saw that she was looking at him. Upon seeing her eyes, he saw that she wanted to speak to him. With that, he put the list away before speaking to her.
"Got something to say, Hepner." Said Kai as he looked at the redhead next to him. Hepner nodded at that before speaking.
"I do." Said Hepner, looking at Erika and the AIs around them, seeing that they were minding their own business, before continuing. "I just wanted to say that it's great to see you again, Kai. And that it's great to see you again without bullets or on opposing sides." Kai just nodded at that, agreeing with her. He knew that she was a good person at heart when he first met her. Fought for a government that dropped a colony on Earth, but he knew that he can't fault her for that. As far as he knew, she didn't participate in Operation British or the battle of Loum in the war. Even if she did, that didn't leave impact his opinion of her much. She was just a simple soldier that obeyed her orders. It's not like she had the power to stop the operation.
"Yeah." Said Kai. "It's great. Only wish that we weren't reunited because of a mission to save your people." Hepner smiled sadly at that, knowing that Kai was right.
"I'm glad you're doing this, Kai." Said Hepner after a few seconds. "A lot of the other spacenoids hate us for what we did in the One Year War. All the death and destruction we did. Both on Earth and on them." Kai nodded at that. He knew how much the other sides disliked Side 3 at the moment. One didn't need to look into the subject much to know such.
Various programs dedicated to helping Side 3 in restoring their economy were the least popular of the programs the Federation made in the aftermath of the One Year War. They were the least funded and most approved by the general populace. Protests were being had in various sides and cities on Earth, claiming that Side 3 deserved nothing from the other governments of humanity and that they deserved all the terrible things that are being inflicted on Side 3 forever. Kai couldn't blame people for doing them, he couldn't. Not when everyone has probably lost someone dear to them in the One Year War and they don't want to put their hard earned money to the people that were responsible for their loved ones' death. But the people in Side 3 were suffering as them as well, perhaps even more so than the other sides are at the moment, facing all that hate and the economic disparity that had occurred due to Gihren Zabi's stupidity. People didn't see, or rather didn't want to, that the people of Side 3 needed their help, regardless of what happened in the war. And Kai had to be the first to make people see that.
"So, what's it like in Side 3?" Asked Kai. "What can I expect?" Hepner sighed at that.
"People with awful prosthetic arms, people with grudges against the Federation, people with suicidal tendencies. You name it." Said Hepner. "The soldiers released after the war mostly had to leave the military in order to meet the criteria of Side 3's defense force limits, help rebuild the economy, and take care of their remaining families. It's, to be frank, pretty bad out here, Kai. And to make matters worse, there are people here that attack Federation personal. They see the war has never ended and are still fighting against them. And people support them as well, even more so with that new bill. It's chaos, Kai." She sighed in frustration. "I hope you're ready for a lot of cursing and violence during your time here." Kai just closed his eyes at that.
"Don't worry about me." Said Kai, opening his eyes and looking at Hepner. "It's you that should be worried along with that Yugo chick. Can't imagine a lot of your people will appreciate you protecting a Federation reporter. Especially if he was a former member of the White Base. They might get the wrong idea or something." Hepner nodded at that.
"I know." Said Hepner. "That's why it's just me and ensign Yugo that's part of your security team. The others that may have helped are too afraid of the public backlash. They worry that people may go for their families as well." Kai hummed at that.
"I see.' Said Kai before thinking up of something. "I assume you two don't have any parents then? Or rather family members left alive?" Hepner closed her eyes in sadness before nodding.
"Well, technically, Erika has a younger sister, but she's safe in Federation custody." Explained Hepner, looking at Erika as she tried to stay calm in the face of Slick looking at her figure. "But aside from that, no family members to be threatened or worse. It's just us that'll be affected." Kai twitched his lips at that.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Said Kai, causing Hepner to wave her hand at him.
"I got over it." Said Hepner. "But, in a way, it's a good thing. They don't have to see what became of Side 3 now." Kai just nodded at that, not sure if he would agree to that or not. "Anyway, let's get ready to do your job, Kai. And make people of the other sides and Earth see what is happening at Side 3 right now." Kai just nodded at that again. With that, the rest of the trip went in silence.
Few minutes later
Zum city
Apartment building
Knocking on a door in an apartment building, Kai waited until it opened, revealing an elderly woman with a young baby in her hands. Kai coughed before speaking.
"Excuse me, miss." Started Kai, trying to be as nice as possible. "Kai Shiden, freelance reporter. I'm here to help you and the entirety of Side 3 in your plights." As the elderly woman spoke with Kai, Hepner smiled as Kai tried to maintain a friendly atmosphere with the woman so she can let him and everyone else in so they can do an interview. He changed much from the wise-cracking teenager she meet on the Troj…White Base. Then again, this could have been what he actually was. If it was, Hepner couldn't help but feel happy that she got to know the real Kai Shiden and hoped they could begin an actual friendship with the reporter.
When she heard that Kai was coming to help Side 3 and that the Federation needed volunteers from the Side 3 militia to help protect him, she immediately jumped to the request, seeing it both as a good thing for Side 3 and because she wanted to get to know the reporter that had been there for her during the war, treating her like an actual human being. Even though he said some negative things about Side 3 before in his articles, she read some of his stuff after all, it was always about the government. Nothing about the people. And for that, he had her respect. She could only hope that this mission with him would be as impactful as she hoped it would be.
Eventually, the elderly woman allowed Kai to give an interview with her and her family. Once she invited them in, Kai and everyone in his crew and security team walked inside, the AIs doing their best to get through the, comparingly, tiny door that led to the apartment. The woman gestured for Kai to sit on a coach as she sat opposite of him.
Bringing out a notepad, Kai then began the interview while Crick filmed everything.
"Now then, can you tell me how the war affected your family, and your neighbors as well as the aftermath." Said Kai, starting the interview.
